


Seasonal Treat

by caprigender



Series: Just a fascinating, unsettling kind of man [2]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 22:54:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19451158
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caprigender/pseuds/caprigender
Summary: Indrid Cold can’t not be dramatic and weird, even when he’s just going out to get coffee.





	Seasonal Treat

**Author's Note:**

> I’m posting this from my phone so it might be a total mess

“What’s going on Rose? You’ve been acting antsy all day.”

Rose did not look at Shiloh as she went about cleaning behind the counter. She glanced at the door and up at the drinks menu again. Something about the curl of the candy canes and the sparkle of snowflakes made her jaw clench ever so slightly. She turned back to rearranging the drink holders. “It’s eggnog season.”

Molly whipped around from the dish washing station. “Oh my god.” Shiloh jumped.

“What? What’s ‘oh my god’?” They asked.

“He hasn’t come in yet has he?”

“What? Who hasn’t come in yet?”

Rose glanced over at the incoming driveway where a silver sedan with a bumper dent was pulling in. “Doesn’t matter,” she dismissed, moving her headset from around her neck to over her ears. “I’m on drive through. Shiloh, get ready to start on this order.”

Molly returned to the last of the dishes. “Creepy eggnog guy, what was his name again?”

“Not talking about it. Hi welcome to Mac’s Doughnuts and Coffee, what can I get for you today?”

“What, you afraid he’ll show up again?” Molly teased. She waved her soap covered hands in classic ghost story fashion. “Speak of the devil and he will appear and order a coffee from you.”

Shiloh slid up next to her, “Molly,” they asked with a whine of curiosity in their voice. “whos creepy eggnog guy?”

“Some weirdo who likes eggnog lattes and day old doughnuts. Comes in here every once in a while and buys a bag of our crustiest cream-filleds and always asks if we’ve got the seasonal flavors in yet.”

Shiloh wrinkled his nose. “Day old cream filled? Ok that’s a little gross, but not really creepy.”

“Medium caramel latte, frozen hot chocolate and two regular crullers for the drive through,” Rose called back over her shoulder. Shiloh pulled out a couple of disposable cups and began prepping the coffee. “Molly would you please stop talking about him.”

“I’ll stop if you start.” Molly wiped her hands off on a dish towel. “Come on Rose. Shiloh doesn’t know yet!”

Rose sighed and went to fetch the doughnuts. Her movements were swift and agitated, like she was swatting at an insect instead of wrapping up tasty treats for paying customers. Shiloh watched her out of the corner of their eye, curious but trying not to show it. She exchanged the doughnuts for the couple’s money. “Thank you, it’ll be just another moment for your drinks.” She leaned back against the counter and looked at Shiloh, still working on the frozen hot chocolate. “Ok, Molly, get in here and make this medium caramel latte so I don’t have to.”

Molly dropped what she was doing and zipped back to the coffee station. “Tell them!”

“Couple of years ago,” Rose explained, “this man comes in and orders an eggnog latte in April. This is when I was pregnant with Lilly. Anyways, I tell him we don’t have any eggnog lattes, they’re seasonal and it’s not the season. So he buys a bag of day old doughnuts instead. Then as he leaves he congratulates me that my daughter is going to be a Gemini.”

“Which is ridiculous cause no one celebrates for a Gemini,” Molly interrupted.

“But that’s what he says. He says ‘June 20th huh? Congratulations, she’s a Gemini!’ And then he just leaves.”

Shiloh blinked. “So, he guessed at when your daughter was going to be born? That’s kinda weird I guess.”

“No what’s weird is that he got it right!” Molly said.

“He what?”

“He got it exactly right,” Rose continued. “I went into labor with Lilly on June 20th, a full month and a half before I was due.”

“And cause of that Lilly’s a Gemini. Just barely.” Molly handed Shiloh the finished caramel latte. Shiloh nestled it into the drinks carrier across from the frozen hot chocolate and handed it back to Rose.

“They had to give her oxygen treatments. Scariest time of my life.” She moved back to the window with her Customer Service Voice firmly in place. “Here’s your drinks, thank you for stopping at Mac’s Doughnuts and Coffee.”

Shiloh nodded slowly. “Ok, yeah that does sound unsettling.”

“That’s not all he’s done,” Molly said, she began ticking things off on her fingers. “He also knew when Sammy was gonna break up with her boyfriend and he knew Tim was gonna switch majors to microbiology and he always shows up whenever we talk about-“ the bell above the door jingled and Molly cut off in the middle of her list. Her eyes went wide as the extra large cinnamon rolls in the pastry case behind her. When she finally continued her voice sounded like a question. “Hi, welcome to Mac’s Doughnuts and Coffee.”

The man who came through the doorway was a mess and a half. He looked less like a man and more like an enormous black coat on a wire frame coat hanger that just happened to have legs and arms where a human would. Beneath the coat his clothes were stained and disheveled and as he drew closer Shiloh could see their own face reflected in the massive red lenses of his sunglasses. The man did not remove the sunglasses as he walked up to the counter but he grinned. Shiloh felt a shiver of unease run up and down their spine. Something inside them feared what the man was about to say, feared the moment when he would begin to speak. And yet even worse was the possibility that the man might say nothing, that he might stand there in the silence of the coffee shop until the world melted around the four of them.

“Good morning!” His voice resonated like a struck tuning fork. “I’d like a large eggnog latte and a bag of day old cream filled doughnuts.”

“Coming right up,” Molly grabbed a cup off the counter and turned to Shiloh, “can you grab the bags of day olds from the back counter?”

Shiloh nodded and pulled themself away from the gaze of the unsettling customer. It felt like walking through knee deep molasses. It felt like trying not to run.

“Shiloh,” the strange man called and the prickling static sensation on the back of Shiloh’s neck increased. “You’re going to try to give me the bag from yesterday but there’s a bag left over from the day before yesterday and I would really prefer that one please.” 

Shiloh nodded and looked down at the bag they had been reaching for. Yesterday doughnuts. They grabbed a different one, checked the date. Day before yesterday doughnuts. There was nothing about this customer interaction that should be making them feel so… cold and vaguely nauseous.

Molly rang up the man’s total and he pulled a fistful of crumpled dollar bills and old coins out of his pocket. She let him drop it on the counter before reaching to swipe it into the counter till.

“Don’t you need to count that?” Two words into the question Shiloh deeply regretted the knee jerk reaction. Molly looked over at them, wide eyed with a small shake of her head. The strange customer looked at them and his smile somehow grew even wider.

“Yes, of course. Best to check.”

His gaze stayed fixed on Shiloh as Molly took the time to count out the change to the exact total. Not a penny more, not a penny less.

The man scooped up his drink and doughnuts. “Keep an eye on this one, Rose. They’re really going places.” The bell above the door jingled again and the building itself seemed to let out a sigh of relief.

Shiloh felt a hand on their shoulder, a small comfort. “Mr. Cold always pays in exact change,” Rose explained, “we try not to keep him around too long.

Shiloh nodded without really paying attention. Did Mr. Cold use “they” as everyone’s default? Maybe. But after that encounter Shiloh wouldn’t have been surprised if the man had somehow just known.


End file.
